Chicago, IL – Jonathan Rossing, a Ph.D. candidate in communication and culture at Indiana University, took 10th place at the Soldier Field 10 Mile on May 26th. His time was 56:05, an average pace of 5:36 per mile.

“I tried to be very conservative in the first mile—I didn’t want to get carried away with some of the faster runners,” said Jonathan, who ran the opening mile in 5:46. “But after the first half-mile, I started moving ahead in the packs and feeling out other people’s paces. Hitting mile 6 in 5:27, I wasn’t breathing hard. It felt very smooth. No doubt I would have felt it by the end, but I really felt strong.” Smoking the last mile in 5:22, his fastest mile of the race, Jonathan said, “I was really pleased at the end when I saw that I sped up this fast and finished that strong. I ran another smart race.”

Rossing’s improvement over the last year and a half would make most runners envious. In his first 5K (3.1 miles) race in February, 2006, he averaged 5:37 per mile. Now, fifteen months later, he’s running the same pace for 10 miles.

“Jonathan ran yet another great race on the heels of his superb performance three weeks ago at the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini-Marathon,” said Coach Jason Karp, who has been coaching Jonathan since January, 2006. “Knowing how fit he was, I told him to go bang out something to be proud of. And he did. I couldn’t be happier for him.”